Our intention is not advertise James Hirvisaari, who was sentenced for ethnic agitation, but to show that PS MP is in the dark about racism.

Hirvisaari is not the only MP in the PS who doesn’t know what racism and discrimination are. There are many others like MP Reijo Tossavainen, who expressed ignorance of our Non-Discrimination Act by stating it was acceptable to hire people based on nationality.

One of the matters that the PS has done in Finland is bring out the darkest side of some Finns. These include: intolerance, racism, discrimination, provincialism, conservatism, sexism, anti-Russian nationalism to just name a few from a very long list.

Hirvisaari, who was sentenced in December 2011 for ethnic agitation, considered the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination to be a joke. Even so, his ignorance about racism reinforces the importance of that day.

He writes on a blog entry headlined “Anti-racism day” the following: “In spite of everything I must admit that I belong to that national group that is treated by those in particular [who claim to be] “tolerant” in a very racist (sic!) manner. I am for example a Perussuomalaiset [party member] and a devout Christian.”

Even if it’s clear that extremist anti-immigration groups want to rewrite and redefine history and concepts that reveal their intolerance, racism and far right credentials, are people like Hirvisaari ignorant or do they play on people’s ignorance – or are both of the above true?

I have been labelled by some members of the Perussuomalaiset (PS) of being a “racist” because I speak out against the anti-EU, anti-immigration and especially anti-Islam party. I explain to them that I never knew that the PS was an ethnic group. Christians aren’t an ethnic group either as Hirvisaari believes.

Despite all the bravado, ethnic sabre-rattling and provocations by extremist politicians like Hirvisaari and the PS in general, I wonder why none of their MPs have taken part in any debates on our blog.

That fact in itself is revealing. It shows that they only feel at home with people who think like them.

No-one is wrong here. Racism quite often nowadays includes discrimination based on religion, as religion is very often tied up with ‘visible’ ethnicity. However, in the strict sense, discrimination or defamation based on religion is a form of bigotry, while racism is likewise another form of bigotry.

-‘Muslims are a religious group that belong to an ethnic group. You’ve heard of the term Islamophobia, right?’

Come on Enrique, now you are really showing your ignorance. Which country has the most Muslims in the world? Indonesia. A completely different race and ethnicity to Muslims in the Middle East (Arabs) or the many millions of muslims in African countries such as Nigeria where roughly have the population is Muslim or Somalia. So there’s argument, Muslims are certainly not an ethnic group.

Point is that it’s all overlapping. People are sometimes targeted for having Muslim names or looking ‘Arab’. The fact is that the hostility extends to both the religion and the ethnicity, and these bigots rarely differentiate, assuming one goes with the other. That is the simple reason that racism nowadays sometimes refers also to ‘Islamaphobia’.